Silvermine is probably the most popular climbing area on the Cape Peninsula with short walk-ins, good rock quality and many excellent routes. Silvermine has five different crags and over 80 routes with grades ranging from 13 to 28. The crags go into the shade in the early afternoon. The Lower Silvermine Crag has easy routes and is perfect for beginners, Blaze of Glory is a little harder, Silvermine Main Crag is a good all round crag and Fawlty Towers for some harder stuff. The most recent addition is Silverminor Crag.

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=Silvermine Climbing History=

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The Silvermine Crags have been climbed since the 60′s, but the crags first became popular when they were bolted in the 90′s. In 2008, many of classic routes have been re-bolted.

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Line 23:

*10 to 25 minute walk-in

*10 to 25 minute walk-in

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These are some of the most popular crags in South Africa with short walk-ins, good rock quality and many excellent routes.

= Season =

= Season =

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Website: [http://www.tmnp.co.za tmnp.co.za]

Website: [http://www.tmnp.co.za tmnp.co.za]

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= Rock =

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Sandstone

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= Gear =

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== Fawlty Towers ==

== Fawlty Towers ==

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Fawlty Towers crag at Silvermine has 22 routes with grades ranging from 16 to 27. The crag was originally developed in 1997 by Guy Hollwill and Robyn Hollwill. When Robyn opened Lord Melbury 25, it was one of the harder routes opened by a woman in SA.

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To get to Fawlty Towers, walk along the dirt road to the far side of the ridge. Once on the ridge, head back (that is, walk in the direction of Muizenberg). Look for a rock cairn indicating the path to walk down to the crag. You will arrive at the right hand side of the crag.

To get to Fawlty Towers, walk along the dirt road to the far side of the ridge. Once on the ridge, head back (that is, walk in the direction of Muizenberg). Look for a rock cairn indicating the path to walk down to the crag. You will arrive at the right hand side of the crag.

Silvermine is probably the most popular climbing area on the Cape Peninsula with short walk-ins, good rock quality and many excellent routes. Silvermine has five different crags and over 80 routes with grades ranging from 13 to 28. The crags go into the shade in the early afternoon. The Lower Silvermine Crag has easy routes and is perfect for beginners, Blaze of Glory is a little harder, Silvermine Main Crag is a good all round crag and Fawlty Towers for some harder stuff. The most recent addition is Silverminor Crag.

Silvermine Climbing History

The Silvermine Crags have been climbed since the 60′s, but the crags first became popular when they were bolted in the 90′s. In 2008, many of classic routes have been re-bolted.

Behind the ridge are four different crags: the Lower Silvermine Crag has easy routes and is perfect for beginners, Blaze of Glory is a little harder, Silvermine Main Crag is a good all round crag and Fawlty Towers for some harder stuff.

±80 single pitch sport routes

Grades 4 to 7b+

10 to 25 minute walk-in

Season

All year round. Sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon, resulting in crag congestion at the most popular crags, like Lower Silvermine Main

Contact

Gear

Sport rack, 50m or 60m rope. Be sure to tie a knot in the end of your rope as some of the routes are higher than 25m.

Sivermine Crags Map

The climbing

Mostly vertical to slightly overhanging with a good 'get your leg up overhang' on a couple of the routes at Silvermine Main Crag and Blaze of Glory. There are many less overhanging/easier climbs at the two Lower Crags.

Getting There

From Cape Town, take Ou Kaapse Weg towards Noordhoek. Once on top of the mountain turn right into the Silvermine Reserve. There is an entrance fee of R30.00 to get into the reserve (February 2012). A Wild card also gets you in.
Visitors to South Africa can also take advantage of the Wild cards.Wildcard

Areas

Lower Silvermine Crag

Routes from L to R
Park at the first parking lot. Walk straight up the hill to the ridge and then take a path to the left and follow the cairns to the path down and abseil point. The path down to the crag goes on the right (when the crag below you). You can also abseil into this crag, The abseil anchors are safely set back about from the edge (a doubled rope will get you to the bottom)

Cloud Nine Wall:

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

A

Bedazzled

6b/21

(5B+C)

M Gowans

B

Vortex

6a+/20

(7B+C)

T Lourens

C

Cosmik Debris

6b/21

(6B+C)

D

Nimbus

6a/19

(6B+C)

D.25

Lord of The Ring

16

(10B+C)

Brad Davies.

Closely bolted. A fantastic introductory route

D.50

My Precious

6a+/20

M Gowans

Pumpy and sustained in the lower half! Some of the rock at the start is a bit suspect so handle with care.

D.75

Ring Sting

6b/21

S Maasch

Main/ Original Sector:

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

E

Blockhead

6a+/20

(6B+C)

E.50

Skywalker

23

BB G Hart/FA J Temple-Forbes

Features many loose blocks reinforced with glue.

E.75

Mantra

13/14

[11B; C]

Gavin Peckham and Brian Lambourne (30/03/08)

F

Chicks Dig it Lank

13

(6B+C)

G

Serendipity

14

(6B+C)

H

Rough Rider

15

(6B+C)

I

Flakes

15

(6B+C)

J

Alpha & Omega

6b+/22

(6B+C)

K

Fool's Garden

6a+/19

(6B+C)

L

Obideah

6a/18

(8B+C)

Between the Lines

6a+/20

M

Jedeiah 6a/18

(6B+C)

N

The Gift

/16

(7B+C)

O

Hard as it Gets

17

(7B+C)

Vlad the Impaler

6a/19

P

Wings of Desire/ (Malcolm's Route in Book)

(3B+C)

(2009)

Q

Wet Dreams

6a/19

8 Mile Ledge: (Half way up Wet Dreams, traverse to the ledge on left)

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

1

Chris Kirkpatrick

6b/21

(6B+C)

2

Two Trailer Park Girls

6b+/22

(5B+C)

3

Oh, There Goes Gravity

6c/23

(7B+C)

4

Oh, There Goes Gravity-direct

25

(7B+C)

The Pumphouse:

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

1

Rest the Brakes

18

2

Spitfire

23

3

In Your Face

21

4

London Burning

7a (grade consensus needed)

J. Samson pre July 2010

5

Cursed

19

6

Piglet Garden

17

7

Snitch

18

Blaze of Glory

Routes from L to R

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

1

Promise of Light

6b+/22

15m

15m

2

Terminal Velocity

6b+/22

15m

15m

3

Drop Zone

6a/19

15m

15m

4

Wake-Up Call

6b/21

16m

16m

5

Bad Medicine

6b/21

16m

16m

6

Blaze of Glory

6b+/22

15m

15m

7

Dead Wing Starling

4+/15

14m

14m

8

Hairless Mexican

4+/15

14m

14m

Silvermine Main Crag

Routes
From left to right:

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

1

Mind the Gap

21

12 bolts

Scott Miller, March 2005

to the left of Argent

2

Argent

16

Richard Behne

3

Argentum

19

Richard Behne

4

Jono Gordon's Route

22

Jono Gordon

This route has been rebolted with chemical anchors by the Anchor Replacement Fund

5

Mercury

26

Richard Behne

This route has been rebolted with chemical anchors by the Anchor Replacement Fund

6

Pistolero

20

Patrick McCann

7

Josie Get Your Gun

21

Patrick McCann

Hard if you're short

8

Cool Hand Luke

18

Patrick McCann

9

Male Country

24

Jayson Orton

10

No Man's Land

24

John Alexander

11

Sterling Silver

21

John Alexander

A classic! This route has been rebolted with chemical anchors by the Anchor Replacement Fund

12

Revealyomango

20

Tony Lourens

13

Train Spotting

28

Guy Holwill

14

Silver Streak

26

Paul Schlodfeldt

15

Dragonfly

26

Mike Roberts

16

Trance Dance

23

Malcolm Gowans

17

Kirika

23

Greg Hart 2006

The grey streaks

Photos

Clipping the chains on Sterling Silver. photo: Philip Starke

Sterling Silver. photo: Andy Davies

Silverminor Crag

Access to Silverminor is from the Main Crag:

From the open terrace between 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'No Man's Land', step down and follow the vague path down and left along a ledge, to access the routes.

Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers crag at Silvermine has 22 routes with grades ranging from 16 to 27. The crag was originally developed in 1997 by Guy Hollwill and Robyn Hollwill. When Robyn opened Lord Melbury 25, it was one of the harder routes opened by a woman in SA.

To get to Fawlty Towers, walk along the dirt road to the far side of the ridge. Once on the ridge, head back (that is, walk in the direction of Muizenberg). Look for a rock cairn indicating the path to walk down to the crag. You will arrive at the right hand side of the crag.
From left to right:

From left to right:

#

ROUTE NAME / AREA

GRADE

# BOLTS

RATING

BOLTING/OPENED INFO

DESCRIPTION

1

Moose's Head

23

Guy Holwill

2

The Psychiatrist

22

Jason Temple-Forbes

3

Corked

19

Jayson Orton

4

Duck Surprise

20

Tony Lourens

5

Communication Breakdown

23

Jayson Orton

6

Lemonade

16

(9 bolts)

Tyrone Chan, March 2005

7

Playin' Hookie

16

(9 bolts)

Scott Miller, March 2005

8

Sthpoonz

20

Jayson Orton

9

Waldorf Salad

18

Robyn Holwill

(harder start a metre or so to the right is graded 22)

10

Brahm's Third Racket

26

Guy Holwill

11

Basil the Rat

23

Jayson Orton

12

Toreador of Torquay

21

Patrick McCann

13

name?

21/22

It starts off with a couple of metres of face climbing, then moves up and right to a roof with some nice jugs, which moves over the roof to a left handed pinch, finally finishing at the chains under the ceiling.